Birthday
by Phoenix.J.Bloodstone
Summary: Just how far do the bonds of brotherhood extend? Its been two weeks and Alvin has been haunted by consistent, nerve pinching pain. Theodore's been acting odd and how might Simon be behind it all?
1. Chapter 1

Ok so here we go again.

An intresting AATC story with an interesting take. Also, I will be attempting to finish up my last attempt at an AATC chapter story,'Velocity'.

Dont own.

* * *

**~~Brothers~~**

* * *

Alvin's morning started as all of his mornings had started for the past two weeks: in pain.

"_Ah!"_

The rankled teen woke with a start, his back fur slick with sweat and distinctly aware of the _fire _that laced every movement of his neck and shoulder. It was an angry unrelenting pain, one that pounded behind the hollows of his ears and hammered its way down into the crooks of his shoulder blades where –he knew-it would persist. At least, until he go some meds in him.

Alvin lifted his head slightly. From his pillow, he could just make out the blinking green of his digital alarm clock and, just behind it, the reflective gleam of his medicine cabinet.

In a lot of ways, the little red pills that he took every morning were his savings grace. His day wouldn't-_couldn't_- start without them and there were days when the only thing that got him out of bed was the lure of their prescribed relief.

Today was one of those days..

Alvin let himself fall back with a huff. God, had it gotten to be that he couldn't even bear the weight of his own _head_? _Pathetic! _Ursula, he knew, would have had a joke on hand for his previous assessment had she been there to witness it,and he had an inkling that he would have been just as amused by it then as he was now. Which was to say, not at all.

Next to the pills, Ursula Ivanov was the second catalyst in Alvin's daily plans. Imported from Russia, the unimpeachable day planner organized every aspect of his working life. In the studio, she was almost guaranteed to be the one saucy enough to comment on every aspect of his short comings.

Even now, he could see the tilt of her head and the curve of her lips as plain as if the ruby headed secretary were laying right beside him in a position that they surly had executed before. "_Time is money, Mr. Seville " _she would say, grinding the e's between her teeth_. "And the world waits for no man. Not even you.."_

And with these words in mind, Alvin_ slowly _eased his was from under the suffocating warmth of his garnet sheets.

"_You should ice that, you know."_

The teen started, turning so fast the he forgot to mind his shoulder.

"_AARRGH!_"

Pain exploded in Alvin's ribs, imbedding needles into his lungs and blacking over his vision in such a abrupt violent way that he shut his eyes in fear the sudden vertigo would make him pass out. The fear, however, was quickly replaced by agitation. He didn't need eyes to figure out who had the guile to come into his bedroom unannounced.

Sprawled forward unto the center of his mattress Alvin Seville caught his bearings and managed to glare hatefully at the figure perched patiently on the foot of his bed.

Simon Seville stared, quite calmly, back.

Pulling a hand backwards through sweat drenched bangs, Alvin shakily pushed himself up into something akin to a sitting position, aware the his brothers eyes followed every move his trembling joints made. A steadying gulp, a breath and then:

"_Wh-?"_

" _Ice." _The other chipmunk repeated simply and Alvin felt the mattress shift beneath him. "For your shoulder. It's better than those pills you rely on."

Alvin felt anger creep like a rash beneath his fur. He didn't give a damn about the ice. His inquiry had been aimed more to the likes of, '_**What**__ do you think you're __**doing**_' or '_**Why**__ the __**hell**__ are you in my room?_' Looking up, Alvin realized with irritation that the other chipmunk was already dressed, clothed in a white dress shirt and ash vest. Impeccability demonstrated in every starched crease and immaculateness living in every purposeful fold.

Alvin felt the upstarts of a severe headache. "Simon," he started.

Simon's eyes meet that of his brothers and Alvin was momentarily stunned by the beauty there. Simon's sere orbs danced with shards of silver lightning and, in the light of his bedroom window, appeared almost luminous in the pale fur of his face. Sunlight kissed Simon's tawny locks, highlighting the hairs that sprouted from the part in his brothers crown and dipped past the sturdy handsomeness of his jaw.

Handsomeness that, Alvin knew, now rivaled his own.

He turned away abruptly, jealousy gripping him hard by the jaw. Suddenly he didn't want to hear any explanation the other might have had. Now, he just wanted him gone.

"Get out." Alvin snarled and without waiting for a response stood up and made his way over to the medicine cabinet. Once there he swung it open and received the bottle of Dilaudid he knew would be waiting for him. Aggressive bold letters warned him to take only one every several hours. Alvin hit the bottle against his palm until he produced three.

Behind him, he heard the bedsprings release its final burden and then the near soundless shuffle of footsteps filled the room. A gentle _shiff shiff _that paused just diagonal of him.

"Alvin."

Simon was close and Alvin's space was suddenly invaded by the smell of strong mint. Still he didn't turn around.

"We're eighteen today, Alvin."

Alvin's achy fingers tightened around his pills. Where they? He did the calculations in his head. He didn't remember anyone mentioning for it. Ursula _certainly_ hadn't planned for it. Alvin didn't know which bothered him more: that his friends apparently had forgotten or that _he_ had.

"Look alive," The mint smell receded and the shuffling continued in the direction of his bedroom door. "The world waits for no one.."

Alvin stiffened and perhaps it was the impulsiveness of the moment or the words themselves that spun him around, pulling inopportune explanations from his lips.

"And I _don't!_" he called out.

The other paused at the doorway without turning, the fingers of an outstretched hand frozen just above the brass doorknob.

The atmosphere stretched like a rubber band pulled almost taut and Alvin felt rather than heard the question in the air.

"_D__on't what, Alvin."_

Alvin focused on the three pills in his palm, kneading one with his thumb until the sugar coating stained his fur. "Rely on them.." he answered softly looking back up at no one. At nothing.

Simon had already left.

He hadn't even heard his brother leave.

* * *

Thats all for now. 2nd chapter comming in a bit.

Reviews encourage me to update faster ;)


	2. Chapter 2

Hello again

I know the first chapter was confusing but bear with me. Everything will sort itself out, you just have to _look_ and _remember_.

Don't own.

* * *

~~**Happy Birthday**~~

* * *

Alvin found his youngest brother in the den, sitting in the dark with a tissue pressed to his nose.

He'd come down the stairs originally to find Dave and, perhaps, a touch of breakfast displayed in bright chromatic bowls. However, he expected, and therefore was not at all surprised, to find neither. Alvin hadn't physically seen the music producer in what seemed like forever and Theodore hadn't touched a cooking utensil in weeks.

What he _had _found though, placed dutifully in the middle of the kitchen table, was a cake.

Small and grody , the misshapen lump of flour and egg seemed ,to Alvin, stranded in the wide expanse of furnished mahogany. A shitty pink Island on which the words _"Happy Birthday!" _had been applied in shaky cursive. Messy cherry icing dribbled over the sides, but otherwise (and this is what irked him) the little cake was largely untouched.

And so, Alvin had sought out Theodore who had managed to bury himself almost completely into the thick fabric of the lovers seat. Theodore who had, for reasons unfathomable to Alvin, _not _gotten dressed for school _or_ had bothered to lift the thick blinds that sent the whole house in darkness. Theodore who no longer smiled and no longer laughed.

From what Alvin could see, these days the youngest Seville only cried.

And not in the loud evasive way either, but in the suppressed stifling way that thickened the air and sunk its silent lethal claws into everything. Alvin was almost ashamed to secretly wish for the former. He had never been any good at comforting Theodore, that was Simon's job. Simon who he had not seen since their…conversation upstairs.

Alvin stood awkwardly in the entrance of the living room where he went unnoticed. From here he could just make out his brothers hunched profile and the unsteady rise and fall of his back. Sometimes, Alvin wondered if, perhaps, the Theodore in front of him was _not_ Theodore at all, but instead a demon playing dress up in his brothers skin. A frail sickly monster who moped all day and passed up cake.

His phone vibrated.

It was Ursula, or, at least a reminder set by Ursula. It meant get going. It meant he was going to be late for school.

Alvin glanced once more at Theodore and felt his insides deflate. Felt all the fight bleed out of him. He couldn't deal with him today. Turning away, he made a mental note to at least mention this to Simon. The fact that the other chipmunk was not still here trying to coax a smile from the youngest Seville meant that he probably had something to do with it.

But then, what was his ownexcuse?

Alvin went back past the kitchen and out the front door and for a moment followed his feet's memory to toward the garage- until he remember Ursula's most recent text.

"_Car in shop_." It had proclaimed.

And he had since missed his bus, that meant he had to walk.

So Alvin walked. For old times sake.

Alvin walked pretending the dull ache in his chest would leave once his meds kicked in.

* * *

Just to clear some things up:

Its the Chipmunks birthday, for those who didn't catch that in the 1st chapter.

And this story is written in Alvin's pov which means we only know what _he _knows.

So if its still confusing-dont worry. He's confused too..

Tell me what do you think?

Review.


	3. Chapter 3

The third (and the longest) chapter so far. enjoy

Dont own.

* * *

**~~In the dark~~**

* * *

Alvin could feel her eyes burning the back of his head. He could see her too. Using the metal protractor placed on his desk as a sort of reflector, Alvin could see every detail of Brittany Millers face, from the wispy tendril of dirty blond hair sticking to the side of her lip gloss- to the hateful glare pulling down the muscles in her brow. It was eldest chipette's eyes, however, that cased the tuff of fur on his neck to bunch and bristle.

At this angle, Brittany's eyes were cold dark marbles.

Despite himself, Alvin swallowed. The Hell was _her_ problem?

"_Mr. Seville!"_

He snapped to attention with a start, his back sliding into the upward slope of his chair. Ms. Gonzales, his pre-cal teacher stood hunched with her claw-like hands on her knobby hips. Her wrinkle invested skin appeared almost sickly in the baleful green of the blackboard.

"Why don't _you_ answer the problem on the board, Mr. Seville."

Her voice scraped like gravel and the fingers of Alvin's left hand tightened around the mockery there. It took nearly all of his reserve to fight back the retort yanking at his tongue, but Alvin bit it back all the same. Bit until he tasted copper.

He was on thin ice at this school and nearly four years of playing devil had put him in a bad way with the Principle. He saw again the resolve in the bloated angry man.

"_You've got one more time, Seville!"_ He had spat, the purple veins in his meaty neck bulging. _"I catch wind of one more negative thing concerning you and you're __**out**__! I don't care __**how**__ close to graduation you are!"_

Alvin watched the lines in Ms. Gonzalez's mouth deepen around the edge of her smirk.

He couldn't say anything back and the ancient bitch knew it. Instead, Alvin turned away, careful to avoid looking at Brittany or revisiting the empty desk next to her. The liquid metal of its legs were rusted and bent with age and, without Theodore in it, appeared to bow forward in sorrow as if mourning a lost child.

Instead, he aimed his silent hostility at the empty chair nearest the classroom window.

Simons chair.

Simon who hadn't showed up in either second period English literature _or_ fifth period Stats.

Apparently, the other chipmunk had skipped school and it agitated Alvin to no end that he couldn't figure out why. As far as he knew, Simon had always been practically anal about reserving his perfect attendance record, and if anything the tallest Seville often lectured _him _on school participation- but it that didn't change that fact that this particular pattern had now been going on for days...

"_ALVIN!" _

A resounding _Snap_ punctuated his name and Alvin found himself following the tip of a ruler up into the beady coal eyes of a witch. Ms. Gonzales, peered down at him over the rutted crook of her hooked nose.

"_**Answer the problem!"**_

The class, who had at first found great amusement in watching current spectacle, grew deathly quite and rage surged through Alvin so quick that his world spun. However, before he could even fix his lips to spew the venom boiling inside him, fate intervened like a wayward angel and the bell rang.

All around him, students hurried out the door as if possessed.

School was over.

Alvin made a point to step around the seething teacher before grabbing the book bag beneath his desk and storming out of the classroom. Once outside the door, however, he waited. He waited for Brittany Miller and grabbed her arm when she attempted to pass by him. This was one thing he was going to get to the bottom of.

Pulling her close he hissed. _"What is with you?"_

Brittany pulled away so fast that Alvin imagined that his touch had in some way seared her.

"Don't touch me!" She roared. "Don't _ever_ touch me!"

He faltered a little ,stunned, but fury eventually followed what he saw to be a severe injustice served on his part. _He_ hadn't done anything wrong, _Just who did she think she was yelling at!_

Alvin's first instinct was to grab her again, but he stopped when he saw the tiny black tributary's streaking down her checks.

Crying.

Brittany Miller was crying.

Alvin felt his tongue stumbled over his argument. First Theodore and now this? His hands fell to his sides and, suddenly weary, peered down both ends of the thinning hallway. Maybe he was wrong to assume that this was about him...

He turned back to face her. Turned back to the wreak. Perhaps this had nothing to do with him at all…

God, he hoped for it . He _prayed_ for it.

He tried again, taking care to soften his voice. _"Bri-"_

"Don't!" orbs of blue fire lashed out at him with unblinking hate. Alvin witnessed the chipette's normally pretty face contort into something approaching savage._"Don't." _She growled again and suddenly she was not two inches away from his face. He dug his heels into the floor, fighting the urge to leap back.

"This sick game may help _you_ cope," She hissed." _- but don't expect the rest of us to play along._"

Alvin was relieved when Brittany finally backed away from him and started down the hall towards the exit. He let her words scramble and unscrambled themselves in his mind, struggling to complete a puzzle with pieces that just didn't fit. Just what was she going on about? Had she completely _lost it_?

His throat knotted over with questions and in his loss he struggled to get his lips to perform them for Brittany's retreating back. All that managed to tumble out of his mouth, however, was a strained, barely audible _"Why?"_

The chipette was nearly out the door when Alvin saw her turn toward him once more before continuing on.

"Because you've hurt her." She said simply. Sorrowfully.

He felt the muscles of his stomach knot up. She was talking about Jeanette. He pictured the messy haired chipette in his minds eye as he had saw her this morning. Peering up at him with red swollen eyes before burying her face back into the crook of her elbow.

"And for that I will _never_ forgive you!"

She left then, leaving Alvin with nothing more than the vision of her yellow ponytail swinging in time to the fury of her steps.

He felt a headache surge forward for the second time that day.

What. The. Fuck.

Alvin bowed his head, focusing on the serene dingy pallid of his scuffed vans- until he found himself staring at another pair of shoes that were decidedly _not _his own. They were formal black Orbison cap-toe lace ups with a familiar silver 'S' emblem hanging from one of the strings. He looked up quickly.

_Simon!_

His brother stood before him in the same overly formal attire Alvin had seen him in that morning. His slacks devoid of a single wrinkle and the white of his shirt bright in the beam of the empty hallway. Alvin also noticed that, unlike him, the other chipmunk carried no backpack. No notebook. Nothing that gave any hint to exactly _where_ he had been all day. It dawned on him that perhaps there was a school performance that he might have missed. Feeling the light weight of his phone in his pocket, however, he doubted it. Ursula would have said something.

He was tired of being in the dark.

If he wanted answers, now was the time to get them.

"Where have you been." He tried, winching at the failed resolve in his voice. The encounter with Brittany had, mentally worn him out.

"…"

Simon tilted his head toward him, his silver iris's dancing above his square thick rimmed glasses. "I've been searching." He replied and Alvin heard the suppressed chuckle riding the wave of his words. His brother took a step toward him.

The same sharp smell of mint from this morning pierced his nostrils. _"Ah!" _Alvin shut his eyes and when he opened them again , Simon's hands were stretched toward him, the long thin fingers cupped heavenward as if offering up a prayer.

"My cuff links, have you seen them?"

It was then that Alvin noticed Simon's undone French cuffs, the loose fabric splayed forward like dove wings. Frustration mounted in Alvin's already throbbing head, his brothers words yet another added pain to what he had already deemed a long and difficult day. Fine. Simon, he decided, could fuck around all day if that's what he wanted to do. It seemed to him that, in the past few weeks, everyone around him had been replaced by some outwardly menace. _He didn't have time for this shit!_

Alvin turned to leave.

The other chipmunk pitched forward, suddenly, into him and Alvin could feel the hot breath wash over the side of his neck as he tried to steady himself. Simon's fingers dug into his shoulders, though, planting him there.

"My outfit isn't complete with out them," he breathed and his voice dropped slightly into Alvin's ear."You know how important they are to me, _don't you_."

Alvin felt his whole body freeze over. He did.

A long forgotten memory resurfaced in his mind as though placed there by some unseen force..

* * *

"_Happy birthday boys, you're twelve today!"_

_High pitched cheers erupted and filled the kitchen with infectious merriment , much to the delight of Dave who joined the boys' verbal celebration and then smiled warmly down at them all. "Or perhaps I should say 'young men', because that's what you three are becoming now.." He ruffled all of the chipmunks heads proudly. _

"_And as young men, I figured that this year I should get gifts commemorating this fact."_

_Soft mummers of anticipation hovered in the air and Alvin wondered what specifically the brown haired guardian had got them. An iPod, perhaps? Or, better yet, a laptop! Inwardly, he confirmed the former when Dave left and returned with three small black boxes in his hands. He shook with excitement when one of the felt squares were placed into his waiting hands._

_Excitement that disappeared as soon as he undid the clasp._

_Cuff links__, small and immaculate sat as Rubies connected by ornate gold links. On each button , some calligrapher had fastened a tiny bullion 'A'. _

_Utter. Boring. Crap._

_He peered across the table at Theodore who didn't look too enthused either but was smiling gratefully all the same. Alvin shook his head. What a bust! He thought, looking back down at the formal fasteners. So, he was surprised by Simon's sudden outburst._

"_I love them,Dave!"_

_Alvin turned to his immediate right where Simon sat, his face twisted in awe by the personalized cuff links he now held to the light. His brother's, Alvin noticed, were a lot like his own, only cast in what appeared to be silver and set in some dark bluish stone._

"_I'll wear them with every dress shirt I own Dave," Simon continued. "I'll wear them till I die!"_

_Dave chuckled, pulling his brother close and patted him fondly. "I'm glade you like them, Sy." He said before going on to explain how the little dark stone was called Lapis Lazu-something or other. Alvin didn't really care. He excused himself and left for his room. It had been his must disappointing birthday gift to date._

* * *

"Where are they, Alvin!"

The indignation in Simon's voice yanked him violently back into to present and back into the brilliant hallway lights. He remembered that Simon had been true to his word, polishing the cuff links diligently and fastening them religiously whenever the occasion called for it. He, however, had let his ruby pair sink into the dusty clutter of his room. He was ignorant of they're exact location to this day.

"_Where are they!"_

Alvin couldn't think and, it appeared that he didn't have to. The words fell numbly from his lips as though they'd been hiding there cramped in wait the entire time.

"My car. They're in my car.."

Icy palms slammed into his chest, shoving him backwards toward the exit.

"_Then go get them."_

A buzzer went off some where and each of the hallways ceiling lights began to shut off one by one.

Alvin picked up the school bag that had fallen at his feet and ran toward the school's exit, looking back at his brother's eerily still form only once. Looking only once at how his bother's figure seemed to shift and transform into something _else_ in the reseeding light.

His nostrils filled with the smell of mint and his ears ringing with the sound of flying glass,

Alvin ran.

* * *

Review.


	4. Chapter 4

I bring you the fourth installment. Enjoy.

Don't own.

* * *

~~**Totaled**~~

* * *

Get in. Get them. Get out.

_Get in. Get them. Get out_.

The auto repair office was cold and Alvin sat shivering in one of the several provided metal framed seats. His damp shirt stuck slick to his fur, chilling him, and his left leg bounced his mantra into the small murky puddle his shoes had made.

_Get in. Get them. Get out._

It had started to thunder as soon as he had left the school and it hadn't taken long before the sky opened up completely, unleashing heavy sheets of rain and sending black swollen clouds to gallop across the atmosphere and swallow the sun.

It was when he was off the storm battered streets and on a downtown city bus that it even occurred to him to wonder _why_ exactly he was _doing _all this.

He thought now what he had thought then, hunched into himself as the bus's ac stiffened his jeans.

Perhaps, it was the rain.

Alvin stared out of the wide Plexiglas window closest to the shop's wide oak desk, watching leagues of water droplets race each other down misted glass. The sheer enormity of the black rumbling clouds and the haphazard billows of water stirred something deep inside him. Caused the deafening peal s of thunder to pound within him as if its source were his own chest.

It had been raining that night too...

* * *

"_Theo!" he roared from the house doorstep. Just seconds later, an earsplitting crack of lightening shook the earth and lit up the grey churning evening sky. "Hurry the __**hell**__ up! I'm getting soaked!"_

_And he was._

_Dressed in his performances best, Alvin waited impatiently for the youngest Seville to come down stairs and join him outside. He had shocked the entire household by getting ready and leaving the house __**first**__ but now, with the rain beating over his head and soaking his crimson dress shirt through, Alvin was beginning to regret making both Dave and Theodore eat their words. _

_And to top it all off, they were going to be late._

"_Ahh!" he stamped his foot, his up raised elbows offering his hair absolutely no protection against the tremendous downpour. He'd been outside not ten seconds and all ready he was drenched!_

"_Theodore!" Alvin yelled again and was just about to run back inside when the other chipmunk poked his head from behind the foyer wall, his beige shirt untucked and green bow-tie askew. __His brother said something, an apology forming in his emerald eyes, but an ill-timed boom of thunder drowned the other out._

"_What?" Alvin called out. His frustration mounted and he seriously contemplated joining Theodore beneath the dry comfort of their roof._

" _I cant go with you!" the other chipmunks voice filtered through. "My vest! I cant find it!" Through the pelting sheets of rain, Alvin saw his stouter brother motion frantically past him. "Go ahead and go! I'll catch a ride later! Can you wait for an umbrella or are you gonna make a run for it?"_

_Dammit._

_Alvin looked toward back toward the black 2010 Audi A8 waiting in front of the house and decided to make a run for it._

_Giving a dismissive wave, Alvin sprinted, sliding dangerously over the puddles forming in their grass and making it just in time to hear his car monitor beep before slamming the passenger door behind him._

_Call waiting._

_A small red light flashed above the call button just right of the cars embedded GPS and Alvin pushed it hurriedly, using his other hand to fling hair and rainwater from his eyes. God, he hoped they had enough time to go to makeup._

"_Yea?" he called out. Releasing the knob he maneuvered his water laden body over the storage medium and into the drivers seat. Inwardly, he willed the person the other end make it quick. He had to get going!_

_Finally, a voice crackled trough. "Alvin! Don't leave yet!"_

_Alvin paused after jamming his seat belt into its black holder, straining to hear over the rain threatening to pound in his windows. It was Dave.._

"_Alvin, do you hear me? Don't leave! I have something!"_

_He hesitated only a split second before slowly pushing in the call button once more, offering a short "K!" Before letting go again._

_Now, what could he want? He pondered while attempting to fix his limp auburn tresses in the review mirror._

_It had already dawned on him that, of course, perhaps the songwriter meant to venerate him. _The Chipmunks_ had reached they're 29__th__ hit in only two years- an impressive feat that they were now about to be awarded for- and Alvin knew, deep down, that it was all do to him._

_He gave up on his hair then, re-positioning the review mirror with both hands until he saw the startling blue of his eyes._

_Yes. It was __**his**__ face, posted on both magazines and event posters that drew fans to their concerts and, before they'd undergone a title change, it had been __**his **__name plastered on all of the album the album covers. **Alvin** and the chipmunks! _

_Commemorating all of them in tonight's award ceremony was a joke. They all knew who they really came to see. The crowd knew who they really adored._

_Alvin lifted his head, practicing his 'award smile' in the fogging glass._

_Perhaps now Dave knew that too.._

_Suddenly, there came the rapping of knuckles against glass and Alvin could barely make out the songwriter's dark figure through the heavy streams of water. Quickly, he rolled the passenger window down, reveling the relief on Dave's face._

"_Thanks for not leaving, Alvin. I've got something…"_

_His guardians voice trailed off and Alvin held out his hand expectantly while the brown haired man shifted his umbrella and dug into his pockets. _

_This was it._

_Alvin felt something small and light weight fall into his hand._

"_I know how important they are to him." _

_What? Dismayed, Alvin brought his palm to his face._

_Small silver cuff links._

_Simon's cuff links._

"_He called me just a minute ago, I didn't think I'd reach you in time!"_

_Alvin felt his breathing slow and his chest tighten. Dave had ran through the rain, with a cruddy umbrella that barely kept him dry, and was standing soaked by his window -just to bring him Simon's cuff links. _

"_For when you'll pick him up. You'll make sure he gets them, wont you? "_

_Alvin looked up into the gentle earth brown eyes that pleaded with him. Pleaded with him to just be obedient for once and do this _one thing...

"_Yeah," he heard himself say. "Yeah, I'll make sure he gets them."_

_He felt Dave's hand on his shoulder, heard the steady _drip drip _of water on leather. "Thank you, Alvin. Knock 'em dead tonight, ok?"_

_And then he was gone._

_Alvin watched the dark retreating figure cut through their front yard and run to the front of the house where Theodore stood, holding the door open against the pounding wind. Watched through the Heavens giant tears. Watched until the tiny cuff links felt like fire in his hand._

_Wrenching open the dashboard, Alvin flung the objects of his scorn in it with all the force he could muster before violently yanking the Drivers stick into reverse._

_He'd make sure that he got them, alright…_

* * *

"Mr. Seville? I'm sorry for the wait!"

Alvin snapped out of his recollection and rose stiffly to meet the blond haired receptionist bounding toward him. It occurred to him that she probably thought him funny for coming all this way in the rain personally, but something had told him that he _alone _had to be here.

He'd felt the same guttural fear on the bus ride here. Fear that he might miss something.

If the receptionist thought him odd, she didn't show it and Alvin held out his sodden clammy hands for the keys,

And received an envelope.

"What's this?" He demanded tearing at the blue parchments seal with his thumb. He heard the young lady take a step back and her next words stopped him cold. Turned his blood to ice.

"It your insurance appraisal.." He heard her stammer, her soft voice like a spring bubbling over. "I thought that's what you came for... though, I suspect that we could have just mailed it..."

Alvin's vision swam, and suddenly he couldn't feel the cold, inside him or otherwise. His thoughts came slowly, as if trudging in ankle deep mud.

An Insurance appraisal was what Ms. Miller got when, last year, her old car had slipped out of park ,backed into a tree, and bent its fender.

An Insurance appraisal was what shops handed you when the price to fix your car was deemed more costly than what your car was worth.

Alvin remembered that the ancient fuchsia Thunderbird had been at least fifty years old. His Audi A8, however, had just been released off the shelves. _His_ car had been worth well over seventy thousand dollars...

Alvin felt his torso jerk forward on its own accord. Jerk forward as though he'd been kicked. Placing two steadying hands on his knees, Alvin felt ill.

"Mr. Seville?" the receptionist's soprano was high. Alarmed.

"_Where is it?"_ He gasped, struggling to pull air back into his lungs. _"Where's my car now?"_ Though , inside, Alvin already knew the answer. It rumbled within him like a violent storm.

" M-Mr. Seville, you're car was totaled beyond repair. It was towed away…Mr. Seville!"

He didn't hear the rest.

Alvin didn't hear the rest because at that moment he dashed out the shop door into the bucketing rain

and when he looked down at the soggy cobalt envelope still crushed in his hand, he bent over and retched.

* * *

That's it for now. We're getting close to solving this, cant you feel it?

I'm curious, however, to see how close _you've_ gotten..

Review and tell what you've summed up so far?


	5. Chapter 5

...and I'm back with the fifth chapter of 'Birthday'!

I cant apologize enough for the two month long hiatus. Special thanks to **Continuum Regained** for lighting a well deserved fire under my arse

enjoy

* * *

**Spinning**

* * *

By the time Alvin took running to the streets, the storm had come alive. Vicious and wild, it beat thunder against the wind of its icy feral roar and ripped apart the sky with metal claws of lightning.

He didn't stop for a bus or pause for any of the dozens of cars that slowed down, considering him.

He didn't want a ride.

He didn't need one.

Alvin _needed_ this. He _needed _the wind to tear at his clothing and his clarity, clearing his mind as it rubbed his exposed face raw. He _needed_ the icy rain to pound against him and through him, fueling his mind as it froze over the muscles straining to haul his bones.

While he ran, the storm ran with him. Bounding forth like a comrade swathed in an armor of black clouds, it helped him rationalize. While he ran, it kept him sane because _surely_…

Alvin watched the storm opened its mouth and released the moon. Watched as its penetrating beam hit and highlighted a figure running as he was just across the street. A figure whose white shirt shown like a beacon as it ran, pushing warm startled bodies aside as he had and turning to look over its shoulder the moment he himself chose to, its silver eyes shining.

Because _surely_ he was slipping…

Moon beams fell like searchlights from the sky, slicing through certain increments of darkness and decorating the puddles that rain had beaten into the gravel. They shone like heaven sent guides as he ran and Alvin let the circles of white liquid light lead him all the way back home.

* * *

When he finally saw his house approaching in the distance, Alvin noticed a second car parked in the driveway of their massive property and, considering this, decided that he would enter the large mansion from the back. He couldn't stand the thought forced pleasantries at a time like this. Not when he still had so many thing to sort out. Not when he still needed answers.

The winded chipmunk stood outside in the stinging rain for only a moment more, looking up at a shaded window that was dark despite the bruised black of the night sky.

There was only one person he wanted to see.

_Simon_

Alvin flung open the screen door and took the stairs of swollen wood up two, three, four at a time and when he finally made it to the upstairs hallway, he went straight for his bedroom door. The fact that that neither of his brothers bedroom lights were on didn't escape Alvin's notice and something tugged persistently at the back of his psyche, dissenting to this effect.

The chipmunk violently shook his head, attempting to fling the new surge of inquiries threatening to invade his already loaded mind. It was something he'd ponder on later.

Right now, he needed a clear head.

Alvin took a deep breath and mentally steeling himself, firmly grasped his doorknob and pushed the door open…

…only to be confronted by a sharp burning scent so _strong_ that it scorched his throat and drew water from his eyes.

Alvin quickly shut the door behind him and instinctively brought his hands to his face, his nostrils aflame.

"Simon?" he called. _What the hell? _ Alvin squinted into the darkness of his room with stinging eyes, vaguely pinpointing the scent as similar to the peppermint haze that he'd smelled on his brother earlier. Only now it seemed as though the perfumed cloud had intensified itself ten-fold, transforming into a thick suffocating fog with sharp putrid edges.

The stormy night sky had shrouded his bedroom in a deep curtain of darkness and Alvin was just about to turn and grope for the light switch when suddenly, in a flash of brief lightening that brightened the room and shook the walls, Alvin spotted him.

With the room suddenly dark again, Alvin's eyes focused on a shapeless still form sitting silently by the bedrooms only window. Every once and awhile, the sky would push out a peal of thunder that let thin strips of light flash through the open blinds. It was in these moments that Alvin could just make out the icy pallor of his brother's right hand and the silver gleam of the "S" emblem dangling from his shoe.

It occurred to Alvin that Simon had been watching him from the moment he'd stepped through the door. His brother had watched him and had not said a thing.

His stomach clenching , Alvin backed up and fumbled for the light switch. His slippery fingers flipped it up and down.

Dead.

His lights where out. _Shit._

Despite himself, Alvin felt the wall of resolve he'd set around himself begin to crumble, the tumbling stones knocking the flight out of every question he'd prepared to aim. There was something about this atmosphere. Some air-born _wrongness_ that had fur bunching and his toes curling within his shoes.

He no longer wanted answers. He wanted to run.

"_Alvin."_

Alvin stiffened. Without a face to pin it to, his brother's voice seemed to come from everywhere.

"_Have you brought them, Alvin?"_

Again the minty stench pushed forward, causing Alvin to choke. Mentally, he began to scrape away the fear snaring his thoughts. _Something was coming!_ Lighting struck something just outside his window…

* * *

_A tree goes down, its trunk and inhabitants left to God. What a storm!_

_Faster! _

_Faster!_

* * *

" I… my car.." The stink shoved its reeking fist down his throat. Stuck its foul fingers into his eyes.

He couldn't breath! He couldn't _think!_

"_Alvin..."_

Another peal of lighting brightened the room. Briefly, Alvin could see his brothers eyes for what they truly were…

* * *

_Hard gray crystals of hate…_

_The smell of Burning leather…_

_The sound of slapping rain..._

_What are you doing!_

_What have you done?_

* * *

"...My car was..._I _was.."

"_Have you brought them?"_

Thunder pounded the roof and Alvin's words slurred, his vision dimming.

The stench had gripped him by the lung.

Gripped him by the neck_. _

* * *

_snapping forward_

_The sight of flying glass._

_Spinning..._

_Spinning.._

_Spinning…_

* * *

"Car crash!" The stench left him suddenly and Alvin bowed forward clutching his chest. "I was in a car crash!" he wheezed. Alvin coughed, clearing his lungs.

Clearing his mind. The burning sensation left him completely.

"That's why you never got your cuff links..." Trembling fingers traveled upwards to the back of his neck. "That's why I've been in pain and.." He shut his eyes tight, struggling.

"…and…" mental fingers uncovered a new layer, one that stilled his breath and caused his eyes to widen at the impracticality of it all.

"And...you _knew_ that!" Alvin straitened abruptly, a new found mix of anger and surprise fueling his pulse and clenching his teeth. "You knew it from the moment you told me to go get them!"

Silence.

His brother said nothing for a moment and then, in one steady movement, the other chipmunk leaned forward out of the shadows. Alvin saw then that his dress shirt was filthy and that the bangs on Simon's forward where damp and limp as though he too had been running in the rain.

"Alvin, didn't_ you_?"

* * *

hm. Some of you thought it was going to end there, I bet. _  
_

that's all for now. I'm afraid

Review and tell me what You think.


	6. Chapter 6

Alas, I have no excuse for my hiatus. Forgive me.

Enjoy.

* * *

**~Sorry~**

* * *

_His brother said nothing for a moment and then, in one steady movement, the other chipmunk leaned forward out of the shadows. __Alvin__ saw then that his dress shirt was filthy and that the bangs on Simon's forward where damp and limp as though he too had been running in the rain._

_"Alvin, didn't__ you__?"_

Hadn't he?

Alvin stumbled forward suddenly; his head reeling as the joints in his legs suddenly gave way. On is knees, He could feel his thoughts and memories slam against his temples before rebounding violently into each other, fervently pressing and blending like two lovers who'd been keep separate for too long.

This morning, he had already known that his car was in the shop. And that afternoon-in the hallway, had he not uttered the very location of his brother's cuff links? And how about his neck pain? His pills…Their Birthday…

Alvin felt the damp stiffness of his jeans press into the fur of his fingertips. Awareness caught him as he caught his bearings. Yes, he decided. He'd known. He'd _had_ to. Marking it all up to a coincidence simply didn't make _sense._

But…if he had known…

Alvin rose slowly, a new frightening thought leaping like electricity across his skin.

If he had known, _then what had made him forget he had in the first place?_

Alvin sent a trembling hand across his face and into the wet tangle of his bangs. Normal people didn't just wake up forgetting about car crashes! And they didn't just randomly overlook their own birthday either! Not at eighteen. Not _him_. Alvin couldn't recall _ever _forgetting his birthday before…

Did the crash damage him in some way that the doctors had missed? What about the pain killers? Was there something wrong with his dosage? Or…

His fingers tightened, yanking at his slippery roots. Or, perhaps there was something wrong with _him_?

Alvin saw again the sniffling trembling silhouette of Theodore bleeding into the loveseat that morning and turned toward the wet shivering silent form of Simon as though really seeing him there for the first time.

"Perhaps…"Alvin thought, meeting the feverish hoary headlights of his brother's eyes across the room, perhaps, there was something deeply wrong with _all_ of them._  
_

A deep sigh emitted from Simon then and Alvin watched, alarmed, as the taller chipmunk slumped forward in his seat. It wasn't until the he realized that his younger brother had simply dropped his head into his hands that he also noticed that the lights were back on. Despite the distinct rumbling he could still make out just outside…

The artificial lighting stirred something inside him, prompted his feet to move forward until he found himself in front of Simons lax broken body. He knelt, mind already steeled against the potent mint that pinched his nostrils and keenly aware of the audible _crunch _of the shiny sharp _something _that surrounded Simons chair. He could see now…

Under the new revealing light of the bedroom, Alvin could now see that his usually flawless particular brother was absolutely filthy.

His once white dress shirt was a smarmy mud streaked fabric soaked to the point of near transparency across his back and his black slacks were so caked with sludge and dirt that they appeared almost brown. Simon's thick rimmed glasses, Alvin noted, were missing as was his brothers ash vest and the tangled mat of the tawny chipmunks hair held all matter of twigs and unidentifiable debris within the still dripping locks. The cuffs, he noticed last as they were nearly buried beneath Simon's lowered head. One was still undone, withered and flapping uselessly. The other was gone completely. Torn away.

Worry hit him first as Alvin slowly extended his hand and then a deep sorrow that made him pause and fight against the sudden tell-tale tightening of his throat. God, what had they all become? He made to reach for his brother's soiled quivering shoulder…

and abruptly, Simon's head snapped up!

Dark inky pupils, black and endless seemed to bleed into the cracked splintered cinereal of each of Simon's irises. The result was a shaded menacing color, not unlike the sky just before some terrible storm. His brothers mouth opened, wide and angry.

"_You LEFT __**me**__!"_

A new smell hit Alvin then, a dank medley of storm and copper so terrifyingly familiar that the sudden intimacy caused him to gasp and scramble backwards unto his feet swearing. "I know!" he tried breathlessly, his back having found his bedroom door sooner in his panicked retreat than he thought possible. "Simon, I'm _sorry_-!"

"_SORRY?" _

In front of him, his brother was on his feet, straight as a board save his left hand which firmly clutched at the stretch of neck just below his own chin, as if the extra knuckled support was needed. The violent mixture of anger and storm that seemed to surround his form took Alvin right back to the time that started this mess…

* * *

_By the time Alvin had neared the corner of Denmark and Kings Street, the storm had increased ten-fold and so had his anger. It lay festering beneath his fur like a heavy second coat. Rain beat heavily against his car windows and the quick heated furtive glances he keep shooting at his dashboard and his call log only hindered his already swimming view- the excess rain turning the world outside his front window into a swirling watercolor._

_Fuming, the still damp teen stabbed at the cars windshield control only as an afterthought._

_There had been three messages left on his Audi's phone system, two from Dave that he could only vaguely recall in passing, having rightly guessed that these had more to do with the way he'd shot out of their front yard and, in a fit of pure rage, had driven straight through the family garden. Not that that mattered to Alvin. His Audi was an industrial beauty that handled well, cutting through the shrubs like butter._

_The last recording he had ignored completely. Next to the blinking call button was a visual call log with the name _Simon.S_ on top and, next to it, a partially revealed message that read: _

Out of practice. Waiting outside…

_Alvin once again found himself staring harder at his dashboard than at the road ahead of him. _

_It irked him that his brother had seemed to have already predicted that he would press "ignore" and had chased his call with a text message as well. But then, that was Simon... _

_Again Alvin saw the hopeful look in Dave's eyes as he handed the cuff links to him, his fingers cupped as though he were dealing with something _truly_ precious. _

_He was always seemingly one fucking step ahead of him… _

_A horn blared!_

_Alvin swore and swerved, narrowly missing the stream of pedestrians that were running across the street , each gray shapeless form just as eager as the next to find shelter from the booming thunder and pelting rain that rendered even the best umbrella obsolete. Reaching over his belt, Alvin rolled down his window and offered an apologetic wave to miffed drivers in front and behind him before he turned into an available space by a side walk. He'd reached the Theater hall quicker than he'd thought._

_It still boggled Alvin that it had been through the will of Simon himself- not Dave- to secure a job at the Jr. Theatrics School. It was a community run program that, even with the rain obscuring his side window, Alvin could tell was really nothing much to look at. If anything, the smog seemed to _improve_ it a little..._

_Alvin scanned the long stretch of yard, the storm was so thick that people passed by in black shadowed heaps that made both adult and child indistinguishable. They appeared and disappeared from his line of sight like ghosts against the grey rumbling sky. He was supposed to _search_ for that dweeb in _this_ mess?_

_He felt his temper flare again and sat back in his seat with a grunt. Also vexing was that the pious punk had bothered to actually __**fill out **__an application for the crappy school as though he couldn't have just waltzed right in and took the job just from star status alone. For what purpose, Alvin had absolutely no idea. He couldn't fathom three hours a day directing plays for a bunch of snotty–nosed kids. And for _free_ at that! Dave, of course, was __**exceedingl**_**y**_ proud..._

_A devious plan hit him suddenly. Alvin glanced down at his watch and was slightly surprised to see that it still worked. Five minutes he decided. If his brother didn't make himself known in the next five minutes… _

_Then he'd simply leave for the award show without him. _

_He'd just say the bespectacled chipmunk never showed, and since his brother was supposed to do the opening presentation speech at the show…Alvin imagined the millions of disenchanted would-be fans, the bad press and, most importantly, the disappoint on Dave's face when he realized that his perfect Simon just wasn't as reliable as he thought he was. A slow grin tugged at his lips._

_A loud ghastly screeching pieced the air and abruptly ended his daydream, the jarring sound making Alvin jolt upright and reflexively grab onto the steering wheel, his heart pounding against his ribs. When he'd calmed down enough, Alvin leaned forward in his seat and squinted out the front of his car, glad that he'd decided to keep the windshield wipers going. _

_Just Ahead of him lay the aftermath of a horrible would-be tragedy. A dark mini van appeared to have not stopped at the stop sign and had instead plowed into the schools cross walk like he himself had almost done earlier. From what he could see, the driver had tried to hit the breaks but the inch of water on the road combined with the speed had instead caused the car to hydroplane, making it swerve over the entirety of the walk instead of in front of it. Any child crossing the road at that time would have probably been killed instantly. Luckily there appeared to have been no children crossing the road, which struck Alvin as odd. The light was red…_

_Swiping a palm against his fogging window, Alvin looked again and saw what he had missed the first time._

_Right in front of the sidewalk, blocking the way to the crosswalk with two outstretched arms pushing backwards unto the crowd of children who __**would**__ have been walking just as the car swerved into them, stood non other than Simon Seville._

_Alvin could even make out the white of his dress shirt, the surrounding headlights making his brother glow like some saintly beacon. The only light spot in the tumbling storm rain and rabidly arriving adults who, like him, had wanted to know what happened. He slumped back, just as a rush of people sped forward past his car, a deep gnawing animal chewing at his insides. _

_He could see it already: Simon's face on the news where he'd proclaim, to the awe of the journalist and millions of viewers, that he was "No hero". The newspapers that would quote him in bold screaming black print. The engraved award he'd receive from the Jr. Theatrics School for saving the lives of some its students. The extra mention at the award show. The look in Dave's eyes…_

_In front of him, a man made as if to cross in front of the car and then appeared to change his mind._

_And, just like that, Alvin made up his._

_Alvin checked his review mirror, backed out of his space, and pressed the gas. He could just make out the concern on his brother's__ face as he passed him by._

_He only made it to the next two lights before someone reportedly rear ended him into incoming traffic. All he could remember was the bright intrusive light, his back cracking against the window and that his world was suddenly spinning…spinning…spinning…_

* * *

"I'm sorry for leaving you…you must have been so worried about me. I should have-… I'm so sorry."

Alvin opened the eyes that he hadn't even realized he'd closed and let out the breath he wasn't even aware he'd been holding. Squaring his shoulders he looked his brother straight in the eyes, they seemed to grow and waver like ripples in a pond.

"I'm sorry."

"_You left me…"_

"I'm _sorry_."

"_No. You left me t-"_

Alvin didn't realize that had backed into his bedroom door until three quick sharp knocks shot through the hollow oak and took hold of his ribs, rattling his torso. He leaped forward just before the door unexpectedly gave way.

"A-Alvin?"

He didn't have to turn to know that it was the youngest Seville inquiring by his doorway. He'd recognize the trembling pitched voice anywhere.

"I was c-calling and you didn't answer...A-Alvin?"

Alvin focused instead on Simon who, at some point had made his way back to the corner of his bedroom where he sat, his pale fingers digging in his dripping tresses and rocking himself gently back and forth.

"He'll be fine." He heard himself say, though for whose benefit he wasn't entirely sure. Alvin looked back at Theodore only to find that the youngest Seville's eyes had followed his- a look of pure distress absorbing his already wet face.

"He'll be fine." Alvin said again, closing the door behind him and heading down the stairs. He heard the soft tentative steps of his brothers stocking feet follow soon after-saying nothing.

* * *

This story is far from over...

Any thoughts yet? Have they changed? Still the same? Questions? Concerns?

review.


	7. Chapter 7

I apologize profusely for the wait...

enjoy

* * *

**Intercession**

* * *

He was halfway down the sturdy carpeted stairs before Alvin realized that he had absolutely no idea why he was heading down in the first place.

After Theodore had fetched him, he had simply followed his feet like thunder follow the storm. Sighing deeply, Alvin stopped and turned toward the younger chipmunk expectantly, giving his brother time join him in the middle of the stair way before he inquired.

"What's waiting down there?"

Theodore stopped on the step just above him and it suddenly struck Alvin that, even if he hadn't, his little brother would have _still_ cleared his head by an inch of so. _When had he gotten so big?_

…_And so scared?_

The stouter chipmunk was visible shaking and, he noticed, hesitant to look him full in the face. Alvin was only able to catch snatches of watery jade between the heavy lashes of his brother's lowed eyes and, when he spoke, Theodore's voice wavered in and out as if carried by the wind.

"M-miss. Miller is down there…in the living room… a-and maybe D-dave? (Alvin's ears perked) but I'm not sure. She asked for you… We should say thank you, you know. F-for that c-cake she made us..." Theodore hiccuped then and the rest of his sentence was gone from Alvin, trampled beneath some indiscernible stuttered murmurings.

Alvin let the unspoken blow pass him like a petty wind, his mind hinged tightly to one revelation and one revelation only. Dave? Downstairs?

Their prodigal Guardian…had returned?

_Possibly!_ He reminded himself. Possibly! Theodore had said he wasn't sure but…He felt a certain persistent tugging in his stomach. He didn't know why, but the mere thought of seeing Dave made him anxious and Alvin couldn't quite discern if it came from excitement or fear.

He brought trembling hands down to his own belly and could feel the cold sour liquid of both churning in there. Alvin searched though the jumbled storage of his mind. He hadn't seen Dave since…since…

* * *

_Lights! Bright white lights! Bright Bright __**BRIGHT**__! Too bright! _

_Blinding! He could not see!_

_Alvin was bound and moving. Fast! Bumping and spinning bellow lights of fire. The smell of some strong something invaded his nose. There are creatures here. Pale masked mouths attached to blue rubber fingers. COLD! Cold hands! _

_Get off!_

"Can you hear me? Can-"

_**Get off! **_

"-hold him steady! Get the sedation needle on standby..."

"What's happened? What's happening? Oh God!-"

_In. Out. In and out! Riding on wind and swirling air._

_Where was he? Those voices. One came from the creature, but the second one…_

_Why couldn't he MOVE?_

"Alvin Seville. If you can hear me…can you blink? Are you aware of your surroundings? Are you-"

_Too cold! Too BRIGHT! Too MUCH!_

"My God! Jesus! My _boy_!-"

_Gone are the creature's metal tools, concerned wet earth eyes replacing them. He knew them! So familiar…_

"My BOY!-"

_Dave?_

_Brown earth irises widen into a depth-less sinkhole._

"Alvin!"

* * *

"ALVIN!"

Alvin awoke to a chaotic world of feinting eggshell walls and a firm tightness in his chest. He looked down. A fist, thick and furry clutched desperately at the material of his shirt and he couldn't fathom why…

"Alvin! You're going to fall down the stairs! ALVIN!"

He felt himself jolt backwards violently and when his head snapped forward again, Alvin became acutely aware of two things at once. The first was that he could no longer feel the friction of the thick bristled carpet beneath his feet, and the second was that he _was_ falling!

"_Ah-!"_

Alvin instinctively thrust his pelvis forward to fight against the gravity that pulled him over what he knew to be the sharp incline of jutted stairs behind him. He pivoted forward just as Theodore attempted one more frantic yank and the momentum sent them both tumbling upward. Alvin into his brother and his brother into the stairs behind _him, Both _coming to rest with a massive _thud_ that seemed to shake the rafters.

Surprisingly, Alvin saw that it was Theodore that scrambled to his feet first. When he himself tried, a nasty flash of nausea forced him back on his side._ What_ _the fuck had just happened?_

"Y-you _fainted_! You just..!"

Alvin tilted his head up. Too fast! The ceiling above him dipped and erupted into a whirlwind of lights. _Lights… _Alvin could just make out his brothers jerky animated form in the pockets of brilliant white that spotted his vision. He had seen lights. In his memory.

_Was it a memory?_

"I was t-talking and all of the s-sudden your eyes rolled back …"

Alvin eased himself into a sitting position, wincing at the pain in his ribs. He thought back on the spinning and the smells. Thought back on the shinning creatures with rubber hands and covered mouths. "_No"_, something in his psyche whispered softly, urging him. Not creatures...

"_Doctors." _He spoke the word aloud, knowing it deep down to be true as soon it left his lips.

It had been in a hospital. He was sure of it._ That _was the last time He'd saw Dave?_ The night of the crash?_ He lowered his head again, this time to _think_. Bits of the memory came floating back in alert strips of demanding dialogue.

"…_hold him steady!… some sort of blunt trauma…"_

"_-don't know. Apparently, he was found wandering…no, we're talking __**miles**__ away from…"_

Try as he might, Alvin couldn't summon the rest and trying to do so made his head pound loud painful melodies against his eardrums. Made him bury his face deep into the folded crook of his furry elbow. His thoughts sounded clearer in the self-made darkness.

Miles away? From _what_? The crash? And who exactly had been wandering? Simon, because he'd failed to pick him up? _Himself _after the wreck? His mind struggled to comprehend all that those few lines could possibly mean.

"A-and Y-you just…just _fell_!" Above him, Alvin heard his brother take a deep shaking breath and then, in a low broken whisper that, Alvin imagined, was meant more for himself:

"I-I wish you would let me h-help you…"

Although he could not see him, Alvin pictured Theodore bringing his fidgeting thumb to his mouth to gnaw at the cuticle there. Something He'd often witness the youngest Seville do when the other was faced with something potentially overwhelming. Back when the world made sense, It was during these crucial times that either he or Simon would intercede. Each ,for once, working under the common goal of easing their little brothers burden before the weight of it became too much.

Who could have guessed that now _they _had become the greatest burden of all…

It struck him them. There in the darkness, freshly unearthed like a coal miner stumbling across a diamond._ Theodore wasn't the one with the problems. He_ may be dealing with the holes marring his memory_, but Theodore wasn't._

All this time he had been chasing _Simon_ for answers when, really, it made more sense to seek out the _one_ person who wasn't_ missing_ or _angry_ or… Alvin swallowed hard, _crazy_. He had the one true source of information right in front of him this whole time! He just been too lost in the grey chaos of his own reasoning's to _see _it.

Ignoring the ache in his temples, Alvin snapped his head up, a question bursting against his lips… and froze.

Theodore was tense before him, worry pinching the flesh above the bridge of his nose and weighing down the corners of drippy jade eyes. His younger brother, visibly miffed by the sudden lapse back into silence, opened his mouth to speak …

And just behind him, it's roaring voice harsh and jagged against Theodore's soft concerned one…

A

_monster_

Did

Too.

"What do you mean, Alvin? "

"**What **_do you _**Mean, **_Alvin_!"

An animal shot from Alvin's belly, clawed its way up the walls of his throat and pried his lips apart in the form of a violent scream. He had only a split second to witness _IT_ standing there rigid and pale and terrible before he felt himself being snatched off the ground…

And brought face to face with a demon.

The _creature_ before him was waxen and contorted, its pale lips stretched into a wet dripping snarl that displayed rows and rows smashed bloody teeth. Above them, an inky mass of twisted bone and cartilage marked where its nose once was. Only one flared nostril remained intact, the other having seemingly been torn from the right side of its face, taking a chunk of cheek, ear and silver hair with it.

It was the eyes that held him, though. It was the eyes that stole his breath and kept Alvin from attempting to pry off the moist icy claw of a hand that twisted the burgundy wool of his shirt.

They were bulging, wide and grotesque, the pupils frozen in an expression of pure terror. Each dripping iris was covered in a thin soapy film that stretched itself across the entirety of the monster's swirling stormy eyes.

Swirling _grey_ eyes.

Simon's eyes.

"_NO!"_

Alvin pushed forward then, summoned all of his cold crippling fear and horror and disbelief into _motion_ and rushed forward with all of his might. He was desperate to rid himself of this _thing_! This creature that was surely _not_ his brother, but a _monstrosity_ enveloped within that thick reeking smog of copper, mint and rain!

And so Alvin pushed until he could no longer feel the carpet beneath his feet.

His fist connected with a wet sickening '_TWACK' _across its swollen jaw and soon both he and the monster were tumbling down the stairs, Its damp fingers wrapped around his neck and Theodore's prolonged terrified scream punctuating every sharp jutting step they struck.

* * *

The next chapter may well be the last. Now's your chance to submit your final assumptions on exactly _what_ you think is is going on! I challenge you to think deeply on it.

who knows... perhaps _your_ guess will be the right one...

Rewiew and we'll see.


End file.
